LIVE CHAT TONIGHT!!!
Hey, there's a live chat on my new book, EVERY BOY'S GOT ONE, at the Meg Cabot Book Club tonight at 7PM Eastern Standard Time. Hope to see you there!
Okay, so I have been reading some other authors' blogs, and apparently, other authors write about BOOKS in their blogs, not TV. Who knew?
I would like to say right now that I did not know that I was not following proper author protocol. I am as shocked and appalled as many of you probably were upon finding my blog, and seeing it filled with gossip about Brad and Jen's break up.
And no, we still don't have the real story on that, by the way, but there was a very interesting interview with an extra on the set of TROY in last week's Us Weekly who said she spent a platonic weekend in Greece with Brad and had the photos to prove it. However, this week she is back-pedaling and telling Us Weekly that Brad probably won't even remember her…which he doesn't. But an Australian Olympic team who partied with him there sure does!
Anyway, today I was going to blog about my favorite commercials right now (in the lead, the Tiny House/Geiko commercial, and the “I would do anything for love” and “Stacy's Mom” Dr. Pepper commercials, followed closely by the sexist but hilarious “chick” commercials on MTV for P. Diddy's new Making The Band show).
But I guess I should talk about books, since that is what authors are supposed to do in their blogs.
But first, I want to say a word about The Oscars. Or, really, the Oscar pre-show, which is the only part of it I pay attention to:
And that word is: How boring is Star Jones Reynolds? She is so dull. Did you hear her mind-numbingly boring speech at the beginning of the show about the history of the Kodak Theater or whatever? There wasn't a single joke in it. It was like SCHOOL.
I can't believe they wouldn't pay Joan Rivers whatever she wanted to get her back on E! Star is just so…blah. Which is weird because she isn't that blah on The View. I like her in those Payless Commercials.
But put her on the red carpet, and she practically loses all personality…unless Jamie Foxx is around.
And her eyes squiggle around as she reads from the teleprompter. I HATE that.
But the thing is, I LOVE Kathy Griffin, who was co-hosting with Star. Only they wouldn't let Kathy near any of the stars! She couldn't ask them any of her rude questions, like, “Got any weed?” and “Who here do you think is on oxycontin?”
But my intense boredom with Star did not balance out my love for Kathy. Like, there was just SO MUCH Star and so little Kathy, that in the end I was like, “Forget this” and scrolled around until I found Joan and Melissa, on something called the TV Guide channel. Whatever that is.
Anyway, they were funnier than Star. Though not as funny as Kathy.
So in all it was a vaguely dissatisfying experience I may never get over.
As for the Oscars themselves, no year will ever live up to the one where Rob Lowe did the bump and grind with Snow White in the opening number, but I guess I am going to have to learn to adjust my expectations now that the FCC is watching everyone like a hawk. I really love Chris Rock, but it was obvious the FCC had gotten to him, too. That is just so wrong.
I guess maybe I was also a bit bored because I didn't see a single one of the movies that was up for best picture. I checked out the end of all of these movies on one of my favorite websites, Movie Poopers, so I knew right away none of them were my kind of flick. In my opinion, for a movie to be worth paying $10 to see, it must have dancing, a makeover, and/or one or two explosions. Oh, and a happy ending. I don't think that's so much to ask for my $10.
None of the movies up for Best Picture fit my requirements. So I didn't see them. Even though the studios sent me DVDs of some of them, and I could have seen them for free in the comfort of my own home, since I am a member of the Academy, thanks to writing the first 40 drafts of ICE PRINCESS. That is how reluctant I am to waste my time seeing something that doesn't have dancing in it.
So you can imagine my dismay when I got my Oscar nomination ballot, and my favorite film of the year, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (dancing, great ending) wasn't even ON it. Apparently the people who wrote it aren't members of the screenwriters guild so they didn't get to submit NAPOLEON for an award. Which I understand, because it is freaking EXPENSIVE to belong to those guilds.
And I am not saying NAPOLEON is the finest film in the world. I will admit that when I saw it, I was the only person in the audience laughing. And that includes my husband.
But something about it speaks to me. Perhaps it is the tots.
Fortunately last night Melissa Rivers (she's 38 by the way, I went to her graduation at Penn because my friend was graduating in the same class, and I saw Joan up close, she was wearing green) had the guy who played Pedro from NAPOLEON DYNAMITE with her during the pre-show, so that made it all kind of better (though not really).
OK, now on to books. But first:
Giada Dilaurentiis's head: Yes, I agree. It DOES look huge on EVERYDAY ITALIAN. But after much discussion on this issue, my friends and I have determined that it is the angle at which she is being filmed. She does not really have a giant candy apple on a stick head. I have seen photos of her that confirm that she is normal-sized headed. Just wanted to clear that up.
Now, books. Oh, but first:
The OC.
Oh my God, how much do I love this show again? I will admit the first few episodes this season kind of sucked, but they have just been getting better and better. This last one ROCKED.
But have you noticed that Marissa from THE OC is taking over the world? Have you? Or is it just me? Besides being on like every page of US WEEKLY and PEOPLE, cavorting on the beach with her boyfriend, she is also taking over the fashion industry! You can't go into the Gap or Banana Republic without finding Marissa Wear all over the place!
You know what I'm talking about: the empire-waisted “baby doll” shirt. Which people like Kelly Ripa wear with jeans. Oh, and ballet flats. Well, Kelly Ripa doesn't wear ballet flats because then she would be too short, but just about everyone else does, all because Mischa Barton wears them, so as not to be taller than Benjamin Mackenzie, since she is like six feet tall and he is approximately five five.
Anyway, I can't wear these shirts, because when you are 38 and have been married for 12 years and don't have any kids, and then you wear anything empire-waisted, people are automatically all: “Is there something you want to TELL us, Meg? Some piece of news you've been wanting to share?”
Which is insufferable. And which is why I refuse to wear those kinds of shirts.
Anyway, not to give anything away to viewers who haven't seen this OC season yet, but
**THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS OC SPOILERS. If you don't want to know, skip to where it says End of Spoilers**
I love the lesbian thing. I totally believe Marissa would experiment with this. And I think Mischa Barton is playing Marissa The Lesbian just great.
But one part of it didn't ring true to me: I just didn't believe it when she confessed to Summer, and Summer was surprised. I don't know about you, but I have had A LOT of friends (boys and girls) give me the “I have something to tell you: I'm Gay/Lesbian” speech, and never ONCE has it been a surprise. I mean, let's face i
t: you know, or at least suspect.
But this is a small quibble. How much did you love the Spiderman ending of the last episode? Oh my God, that was so good. Now if only it will last….
**END OF OC SPOILERS**
Okay, so now, at last, as promised, about books:
Right now I am reading The Young Visiters (sic) by Daisy Ashford. For those of you who write to me, asking if 12 and 13 year olds can get published, the answer is yes—Daisy was nine when she wrote The Young Visiters!
Of course, that was in 1890.
But hey, if your story is good enough, no one cares how old you are!
Don't forget tonight's chat!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
